HAT  IS  A 


Madden  Library  No.  1 

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WHAT  IS  A “SCAB?” 


No  word  in  the  English  language  is  held 
in  more  abhorrence  than  the  word  “scab.” 
No  other  cry  will  so  quickly  rouse  all  the 
* fierce  passions  of  a worker.  No  other  name 
: carries  so  deep  disgrace.  Why  is  this? 
2 What  has  the  man  to  whom  it  is  applied 
r done  that  renders  him  a creature  of  such 
contempt?  “Only  taken  a chance  to  work,” 
says  the  average  newspaper. 

“Acting  like  a free  man,”  says  the  capi- 
talist apologist.  Judge,  police  and  public 
f press  rush  to  defend  him.  Ministers  of  the 
gospel  justify  him.  All  the  enginery  by 
W which  “public  opinion”  is  ordinarily  made, 
declares  that  he  is  an  honorable  man. 

Nevertheless  the  trade-unionist,  who  is 
. usually  all  too  willing  to  let  these  people 
make  up  his  mind  for  him  in  other  things, 
persists  that  of  all  the  creatures  that  cum- 
- ber  this  earth  the  scab  is  the  most  con- 
temptible,  the  most  despicable,  the  most  to 


4 WHAT  IS  A “SCAB?” 

be  hunted  out.  Cross-questioned  he  will 
admit  in  theory  that  the  scab  has  a right  to 
hunt  for  a job,  but  the  next  time  he  sees 
the  scab  trying  to  exercise  that  privilege 
he  fires  a brick  at  him.  And  he  is  more 
nearly  right  in  the  last  than  the  first  in- 
stance. For  the  scab  is  truly  the  most 
damnable  object  our  present  civilization  has 
produced.  But  while  down  in  the  depths 
of  his  mind  the  laborer  who  is  worthy  of 
the  name,  recognizes  this  fact,  it  would 
puzzle  him  to  give  a “reason  for  the  faith 
that  is  in  him.” 

Let  us  look  at  it  this  way.  Society  is  to- 
day divided  into  two  great  classes,  between 
whom  there  is  and  must  continue  to  be, 
while  capitalism  shall  last,  eternal  and  bit- 
ter war.  The  one  class  who  own  and  con- 
trol all  the  means  of  life,  the  government, 
press  and  platform,  are  compelled  by  com- 
petition to  seek  continuously  to  reduce  the 
other  class  to  the  point  of  mere  existence. 
There  is  no  room  for  philanthropy  in  busi- 
ness. The  capitalist  who  buys  his  raw  ma- 
terial, his  machinery  and  his  labor  power 
the  cheapest  can  alone  survive. 

The  laboring  class,  who  perform  the 


WHAT  IS  A “SCAB?”  5 

work  of  the  world,  must  sell  themselves  to 
the  ruling  class.  They  cannot  produce  in- 
dependent of  the  owners  of  the  machines, 
mines,  and  factories,  because  under  com- 
petition only  the  cheapest  producer  can 
exist  and  cheap  production  demands  the 
best,  most  expensive  and  complicated  ma- 
chines. They  are  compelled,  because  of  the 
fact  that  social  progress  and  private  prop- 
erty in  improved  machines  is  making  vast 
numbers  of  them  unnecessary  in  the  pro- 
cess of  production,  to  fight  among  them- 
selves for  any  opportunity  to  live.  If  they 
are  to  rise  an  atom  above  the  slaves'  por- 
tion, they  must  unite  and  fight  side  by  side 
against  the  class  of  exploiters. 

Every  man,  therefore,  who  is  not  born 
into  the  class  of  capitalists  is  born  into  the 
army  of  wage-workers.  He  is  forced  from 
the  day  of  his  birth  to  become  a part  of  a 
mighty  army  arrayed  in  this  bitter,  never 
ending,  CLASS  STRUGGLE.  He  does 
not  enlist  as  a volunteer.  He  does  not  even 
have  the  chance  of  the  lottery  drawing  to 
escape  the  draft.  He  is  enrolled  by  the 
very  fact  of  birth.  His  entrance  into  the 
world  without  property,  carries  with  it  the 


6 WHAT  IS  A “SCAB?” 

articles  of  enrollment  among  the  class  of 
wage-slaves. 

Here  then  is  war  into  which  the  com- 
batants are  drafted  by  the  inevitable  law  of 
birth.  The  gage  of  battle  is  life  and  death 
to  the  workers,  their  wives,  and  their  chil- 
dren. But  in  this  battle  one  straggler  can 
ruin  the  cause.  All  must  stand  together 
or  the  battle  is  lost,  for  wages  are  fixed  by 
what  the  weakest  can  be  forced  to  take,  not 
by  what  the  strongest  may  demand.  A de- 
sertion from  this  army  then  is  the  most 
deadly  of  treason.  It  is  as  if  every  man  had 
the  key  to  the  fortress  within  which  all 
were  fighting. 

If  then  death  is  recognized  as  the  proper 
penalty  for  the  traitor  in  every  army  the 
world  has  ever  known,  what  shall  we  say 
of  the  penalty  due  him  who  plays  the  trai- 
tor to  the  army  of  industry?  In  any  ordi- 
nary soldiery,  the  private  can  carry  little 
assistance  to  the  enemy.  He  has  generally 
entered  the  army  of  his  own  free  will.  He 
never  has  such  tremendous  interests  at 
stake  as  in  the  industrial  struggle.  On  the 
contrary  he  is  generally  fighting  some  quar- 
rel of  his  economic  masters  and  enemies. 


WHAT  IS  A “SCAB?”  7 

the  decision  of  which  is  of  no  consequence 
whatever  to  him  or  his  class. 

Does  it  not  now  become  plain  why  the 
scab  is,  of  all  the  traitors  the  world  has  ever 
known,  the  most  damnable?  He  betrays 
an  army  whose  members  are  his  fellow 
workers  and  whose  cause  is  his  own.  He 
betrays  men  and  women  and  babes  to  a 
lingering  death  in  city  slums  and  factory 
dens.  He  curses  unborn  generations  with 
the  slave’s  portion.  He  damns  a race  to 
continued  bondage  and  fastens  fetters  upon 
babes  yet  unborn. 

Yes,  the  trade-unionist  is  right  who  vents 
upon  the  scab  the  fiercest  punishment  with- 
in his  power.  And  yet  stop  a moment. 
Who  is  there  that  has  not  seen  the  strong- 
est and  sturdiest  of  trade-unionists  forced 
to  act  the  part  of  the  character  he  loathed 
with  every  fiber  of  his  body  ? Why  is  this  ? 

Let  us  look  a little  closer  into  this  strug- 
gle. It  is  a guerrilla  fight.  At  times  all  the 
forces  of  capitalism  are  concentrated  upon 
single  divisions  of  the  workers.  Again  the 
ranks  of  labor  are  scattered  by  some  act  of 
social  advance.  A new  machine  destroys 
an  entire  trade.  A change  in  production 


8 WHAT  IS  A “SCAB?” 

causes  an  industry  to  disappear.  Then  it 
Is  that  men  find  themselves  cut  loose  from 
the  old  ties  that  have  bound  them.  Their 
union  and  the  trade  it  represents  are  alike  a 
thing  of  the  past.  Wife  and  babes  are 
clamoring  for  food.  It  is  easy  to  say  that 
a man  had  better  die  than  scab.  Many  a 
man  has  said  this  and  meant  it  too.  But 
how  about  the  little  ones  ? When  they  are 
starving,  that  is  another  matter.  And  so 
another  man  finds  himself  between  these 
two  horrible  alternatives.  Shall  he  betray 
his  class  or  his  family?  And  who  shall 
judge  him  if  the  cries  of  those  who  are 
nearest  to  him  sound  louder  than  the  ap- 
peals of  class  interests  and  trade  loyalty? 

Look  again  at  this  CLASS  STURG- 
GLE.  What  is  there  in  it  that  forces  these 
horrible  choices  upon  men?  Is  there  no 
place  where  all  can  unite?  Is  there  no  bat- 
tle ground  where  the  fight  can  be  waged 
without  offering  such  frightful  temptations 
to  treason? 

If  all  the  workers  have  a common  inter- 
est against  the  possessing  enemy,  why  is 
there  not  some  point  where  that  interest 
can  be  expressed?  At  the  ballot  box  the 


it 

WHAT  IS  A “SCAB?”  9 

line  can  be  drawn  clear  and  distinct.  Here 
the  fight  can  be  fought  to  a finish,  and 
HERE  IS  THE  ONLY  PLACE  WHERE 
COMPLETE  VICTORY  IS  POSSIBLE. 

Here  there  is  no  excuse  for  deserters.  No 
alternative  of  starvation  confronts  them.  It 
is  the  strategic  point  where  desertion  is  the 
most  dangerous  and  treachery  the  most 
despicable.  It  is  the  place  where  the  most 
telling  blows  can  be  struck,  the  place  where 
the  worst  treason  can  be  perpetrated. 

Here  alone  can  a victory  worthy  of  the 
name  be  achieved  for  labor.  But  a single 
battle  need  be  won  upon  the  political  field 
to  end  the  whole  long,  horrible  war.  A vic- 
tory for  labor  at  the  polls  would  mean  that 
the  workers  would  then  take  possession  col- 
lectively of  the  things  necessary  to  produce 
wealth.  All  would  then  be  part  owners  of 
capital.  None  could  live  by  shutting  others 
away  from  the  sources  of  life. 

There  are  only  two  ways  in  which  the 
struggle  between  capital  and  labor  can  end. 
Either  capitalists  must  own  laborers  or  la- 
borers must  own  capital.  The  first  was 
chattel  slavery,  the  last  vestiges  of  which 
were  wiped  out  in  the  bloody  torrent  of  the 


10  WHAT  IS  A “SCAB?” 

Civil  War.  The  second  is  the  co-operative 
commonwealth,  the  next  stage  of  social 
evolution,  when  capital,  now  grown  too 
complex  to  be  owned  individually,  will  be 
owned  by  all  laborers  collectively. 

Capitalists  have  long  recognized  the 
much  greater  importance  of  the  political 
struggle,  and  spend  infinitely  more  energy 
in  securing  traitors  here  than  what  they 
will  expend  at  the  work-shop.  But  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  the  laborers  have  not  yet 
come  to  recognize  the  treachery  of  the  “po- 
litical scab.”  A man  may  still  vote  for  sla- 
very and  be  accepted  with  honors  among 
union  men.  But  if  he  attempts  to  accept 
that  slavery  for  which  he  has  voted,  at  terms 
against  which  his  fellow  slaves  are  in  revolt, 
he  is  at  once  the  target  for  all  possible  man- 
ner of  attacks. 

Is  it  not  about  time  that  union  laborers 
got  over  this  inconsistency?  Is  it  not  al- 
most time  that  the  greater  crime  is  seen  as 
well  as  the  less  ? When  laborers  once  come 
to  realize  that  by  ceasing  to  play  the  trai- 
tor at  the  ballot  box  they  can  abolish  all 
scabs  in  the  work-shop,  then  there  will  be 
some  consistency  in  their  attacks  upon  the 


WHAT  IS  A “SCAB?”  11 

poor  devil  who  sells  out  his  fellow  slaves 
for  a chance  to  eat  and  live.  But  when  they 
do  come  to  their  senses  in  this  regard  they 
will  find  no  scabs  to  attack  anywhere. 

A.  M.  SIMONS. 


The  International  Socialist  Review. 

This  magazine  is  admitted  to  be  the  best  expo- 
nent of  Socialism  in  the  English  language,  and 
excelled  by  few,  if  any,  of  those  printed  in  other 
languages.  Practically  all  the  prominent  Socialist 
writers  of  the  world  are  numbered  among  its  con- 
tributors. It  has  no  competitor  in  America  as  an 
educator  in  the  Socialist  philosophy  and  a scien- 
tific exponent  of  Socialist  thought. 

Here  are  a few  of  the  writers  whose  articles 
have  appeared  in  recent  numbers : H.  M.  Hynd- 
man,  C.  S.  Harrow,  Ernest  Crosby,  E.  V.  Debs, 
Keir  Hardie,  Charles  H.  Vail,  Emile  Vandervelde, 
Leonard  D.  Abbott,  Herman  Whittaker,  W.  T. 
Brown,  J.  Stitt  Wilson,  “ Mother”  Jones,  Paul 
Lafargue. 

Special  efforts  are  made  to  gather  reliable  infor- 
mation on  problems  of  American  social  life  and  to 
discuss  the  facts  of  American  history  and  current 
events  in  the  light  of  Socialist  philosophy.  At  the 
same  time  care  is  taken  to  make  each  number 
interesting  and  to  include  in  it  much  matter  which 
meets  the  wants  of  the  popular  reader. 

Another  main  feature  of  the  Review  is  the  news 
and  information  which  it  gives  of  the  Socialist 


THE  SOCIALIST  PARTY.  1 3, 

movement  of  other  countries.  Articles  are  pub- 
lished nearly  every  month  by  the  leading  Socialist 
writers  and  workers  of  other  lands,  telling  of  the 
marvelous  progress  of  the  Socialist  movement 
everywhere.  The  International.  Socialist  Review 
is  thus  a continuous,  accurate  and  complete  history 
of  the  Socialist  movement  of  the  world  by  those 
best  able  to  write  it. 

The  Foreign  Department,  edited  by  Prof.  E. 
Untermann,  an  accomplished  linguist,  gives  a 
connected,  condensed  history  of  the  international 
Socialist  movement.  All  leading  Socialist  publica- 
tions, including  several  dailies,  are  received,  while* 
a European  clipping  bureau  sends  us  each  month 
all  articles  dealing  with  Socialism  appearing  in  any 
of  the  journals  of  Europe.  In  this  field  the  Inter- 
national Socialist  Review  is  without  a rival,  and 
many  readers  declare  this  department  alone  to  be 
worth  many  times  the  subscription  price. 

Max.  S.  Hayes,  one  of  the  best  known  writers 
on  Trades  Unionism  and  Socialism  in  America* 
edits  a department  on  “ The  World  of  Labor/’  that 
gives  each  month  an  interesting  summary  of  the 
economic  development  and  trades-union  movement 
of  the  world. 

Current  books  and  periodicals  are  reviewed  each 
month  in  he  light  of  Socialist  philosophy. 


14 


THE  SOCIALIST  PARTY. 


The  regular  editorial  department  contains  each 
month  discussions  of  current  topics.  The  events 
in  the  field  of  world  politics  are  reviewed  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  only  philosophy  that  has 
heen  broad  enough  to  grasp  and  explain  interna- 
tional relations  in  their  sociological  aspect. 

No  one  who  wishes  to  understand  Socialism 
for  any  purpose  whatever  can  afford  to  be  without 
The  International  Socialist  Review.  If  you 
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tell  you  what  Socialism  is  and  what  Socialists  are 
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tion that  will  fit  you  to  make  other  people  under- 
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COLLECTIVISM 

And  Industrial  Evolution 


By  EMILE  VANDERVELDE. 


Emile  Vandervelde,  the  Belgian  economist,  has  brought 
together  so  many  facts,  figures  and  theories  in  his  work  on 
“ Collectivism  and  Industrial  Evolution,”  that  one  won- 
ders at  the  intellectual  grasp  of  the  man.  Vandervelde  is 
a young  man  and  a brilliant  member  of  the  Belgian 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  active  in  carrying  out  the  policy  of 
the  Socialist  Party,  which  is  making  the  history  of  Bel- 
gium to-day. 

In  this  recent  publication  the  author  considers  the 
present  conditions  of  the  great  movement  toward  con- 
centration of  capital,  and  then  discusses  the  problem  of 
the  socialization  of  property,  its  advantages  and  the 
objections  to  it. 

Vandervelde  takes  up  in  turn  the  advantages  of  a col- 
lectivist system  and  then  the  objections,  which  he  meets 
by  facts  rather  than  by  theoretical  argument,  showing 
either  the  inconsistency  of  current  conceptions  or  disprowl 
ing  the  assertions  of  those  who  indorse  the  ideals  but' 
declare  their  practice  out  of  the  question,  and  in  predicting 
an  inevitable  change,  he  says:  “The  immediate  reforms 
which  can  be  and  which  ought  to  be  resized  to  increase 
the  advantages  and  decrease  the  disadvantages  of  the 
operation  of  public  services  are  evidently  only  the  key 
and  the  starting  point  to  much  more  complete  transforma- 
tions in  the  present  organization  of  the  State.  Peace- 
fully or  through  revolution  by  a series  of  insensible  modi- 
fications, or  by  more  or  less  sudden  eliminations,  the 
authoritative  functions  of  the  State  will  go  on  decreasing 
while  its  economic  functions  will  take  on  an  importance 
ever  greater  and  greater.” 

Charles  H.  Kerr,  the  publisher,  has  done  the  transla- 
tion of  the  work  and  thus  made  it  possible  for  American 
students  of  social  and  political  economy  to  follow  the 
investigations  and  conclusions  of  the  Belgian  economist, 
who  ranks  among  the  leading  economic  thinkers  in 
Europe. — Chicago  Tribune. 

Cloth,  50  cents;  paper,  25  cents,  postpaid. 

CHARLES  H.  KERR  4 CO.,  Publishers,  56  Fifth  Ave.,  Chicago. 


The  American  Farmer, 


In  no  other  country  is  the  “ farmer  question  ” of  such 
paramount  importance  as  in  America  and  nowhere  else 
are  the  farmers  so  powerful  industrially  and  politically; 
nowhere  else  are  they  so  intelligent,  alert  and  full  of 
initiative. 

The  cooperation  of  the  farmers  is  absolutely  essential 
to  the  success  of  Socialism.  The  success  of  Socialism  is 
the  only  hope  of  the  farmer. 

Bearing  these  facts  in  view,  A.  M.  Simons,  the  editor 
of  the  International  Socialist  Review,  has  written  a book 
entitled  “ The  American  Farmer,”  intended  to  bring 
Socialism  to  the  farmer  and  the  farmer  to  the  Socialists. 
It  is  a work  which  every  student  of  economics  must  have 
if  he  would  understand  the  industrial  life  of  America  as  a 
whole.  It  is  a book  which  every  farmer  must  read  if  he  ' 
would  know  the  solution  and  the  outcome  of  the  economic 
and  social  problems  which  are  forced  upon  him.  The  fol- 
lowing table  of  contents  will  give  some  idea  of  the  scope 
*of  the  book: 

Book  I. — Historical. 

Chap.  I. — Introduction  — Statement  of  the  Problem. 

Chap.  II. — 'the  New  England  States. 

Chap.  III. — The  South. 

Chap.  IV.—  The  Middle  West. 

Chap.  V — The  Great  Plains. 

Chap.  VI. — The  Far  West. 

Chap.  VII.— The  Arid  Belt. 

Book  II. — Agricultural  Economics. 

Chap.  I. — The  Movement  Toward  the  City. 

Chap.  II. — The  Transformation  of  Agriculture. 

Chap.  III. — Concentration  in  Agriculture. 

Chap.  IV. — The  Modern  Farmer. 

Chap.  V. — The  Farmer  and  the  Industrial  Wage* 
Worker. 

Book  III. — The  Coming  Change. 

Chap.  I. — The  Line  of  Future  Evolution. 

Chap.  II. — The  Socialist  Movement. 

Chap.  III. — Socialism  and  the  Farmer. 

Chap.  IV. — Steps  Toward  Realization. 

Cloth,  50  cents,  postpaid. 

EARLES  H.  KERR  4 CO.,  Publishers,  56  Fifth  Ave.,  Chicago. 


